No necessity of locking down entire Colombo district as of now: Army Chief

The COVID-19 situation in the Western Province is being reviewed daily and there is no necessity to go in for a complete lockdown of the province of Colombo district as yet, as a majority of the new patients are now being detected from the isolated areas only, Army Chief and Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Lt. General Shavendra Silva said yesterday.

Silva told Daily Mirror that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 along with the health authorities were assessing the situation in the isolated and non isolated areas daily, and as of now, they did not see the necessity to go in for a complete lockdown.

"We are going according to a plan. As of today, we have implemented the best option to prevent a further spread of the virus and that is by isolating the areas which are under threat," Silva said.

"Presently a majority of the patients we are detecting, come from the isolated areas," he added.

Colombo Mayor, Rosy Senanayake, on Monday called for a lock-down of the city for at least two weeks, to contain the spread of the COVID-19 warning that the city was in danger.

She said that five per cent of those who were randomly PCR-tested within the city limit were found to be positive and there had been 4,339 cases in Colombo city as of date.(JAMILA HUSAIN)